TRAIL ENTRANCE … One of the entrances to the St. Joe River Trail in Montpelier is shown. (PHOTOS BY JACOB KESSLER, STAFF)
TRAIL WORK … The St. Joe River Trail where work was done to elevate part of the trail so that it is safer and not as steep of a drop when walking or biking.
By: Jacob Kessler
The volunteers with Mission Montpelier held their clean-up day on Saturday July 10th. During the clean-up day the volunteers went to certain houses in the community and helped them clean up.
These are usually homes that are nominated and have residents that are not able to do the work themselves due to multiple different circumstances.
They also go to businesses in the city to paint the exterior to make them look nice. A bigger aspect that the group is working on since last year has been their trail project.
The group worked to turn the game trail next to the St. Joseph River to a walking and biking trail that is open to the public. The group worked to get the trail widened and made safe all last year.
The village was even able to donate old telephone poles that were then turned into a bridge for the trail. This year more improvements were made to the safety of the trail.
Broken up pieces of cement were brought in from the village and placed on the trail to help with the elevation of a certain spot. Ground up cement and dirt were then laid on top to cover up the larger cement and fill in the holes.
The purpose was to get rid of a section of the trail that had steep ascent and decline. The group also worked on trimming sections of the trail. The group does a lot of volunteer work to help support the community and make it look better.
Chris Kannel from the group said “The critical thing is we are all in this together. If we want our community to thrive, we are going to have to identify the needs and take care of them ourselves.
Even if it costs us our money and time it is totally worth it in the end.” The Mission Montpelier group holds a few clean up events every year.
Volunteers are welcome and donations are able to be made through the Rotary Club, Civic League and Ministerial Association.
Jacob can be reached at jacob@thevillagereporter.com